862 lines
44 KiB
Text
862 lines
44 KiB
Text
==Phrack Inc.==
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Volume Four, Issue Forty-One, File 11 of 13
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PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN
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PWN PWN
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PWN Phrack World News PWN
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PWN PWN
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PWN Issue 41 / Part 1 of 3 PWN
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PWN PWN
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PWN Compiled by Datastream Cowboy PWN
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PWN PWN
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PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN
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Reports of "Raid" on 2600 Washington Meeting November 9, 1992
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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by Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen (Newsbytes)
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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The publisher of a well-known hacker magazine claims a
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recent meeting attended by those interested in the issues his magazine raises
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was disrupted by threats of arrest by security and Arlington, Virginia police
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officers.
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Eric Corley, also known as "Emmanuel Goldstein," editor and publisher of "2600
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Magazine: The Hacker Quarterly," told Newsbytes that the meeting was held
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November 6th at the Pentagon City Mall outside Washington, DC was disrupted and
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material was confiscated in the raid.
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2600 Magazine promotes monthly meetings of hackers, press, and other interested
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parties throughout the country. The meetings are held in public locations on
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the first Friday evening of the month and the groups often contact each other
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by telephone during the meetings.
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Corley told Newsbytes that meetings were held that evening in New York,
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Washington, Philadelphia, Cambridge, St. Louis, Chicago, Los Angeles and San
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Francisco. Corley said, "While I am sure that meetings have been observed by
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law enforcement agencies, this is the only time that we have been harassed. It
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is definitely a freedom of speech issue."
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According to Craig Neidorf, who was present at the meeting and was distributing
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applications for membership in Computer Professionals For Social Responsibility
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(CPSR), "I saw the security officers focusing on us. Then they started to come
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toward us from a number of directions under what seemed to be the direction of
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a person with a walkie-talkie on a balcony. When they approached, I left the
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group and observed the security personnel encircling the group of about 30
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gatherers. The group was mainly composed of high school and college students.
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The guards demanded to search the knapsacks and bags of the gatherers. They
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confiscated material, including CPSR applications, a copy of Mondo 2000 (a
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magazine), and other material."
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He adds that the guards also confiscated film "from a person trying to take
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pictures of the guards. When a hacker called "HackRat" attempted to copy down
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the names of the guards, they took his pencil and paper."
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Neidorf continued, "I left to go outside and rejoined the group when they were
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ejected from the mall. The guards continued challenging the group and told
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them that they would be arrested if they returned. When one of the people
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began to take pictures of the guards, the apparent supervisor became excited
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and threatening but did not confiscate the film."
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Neidorf also said, "I think that the raid was planned. They hit right about
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6:00 and they identified our group as "hackers" and said that they knew that
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this group met every month."
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Neidorf's story was supported by a Washington "hacker" called "Inhuman," who
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told Newsbytes, "I arrived at the meeting late and saw the group being detained
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by the guards. I walked along with the group as they were being ushered out
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and when I asked a person who seemed to be in authority his name, he pointed at
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a badge with his name written in script on it. I couldn't make out the name
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and, when I mentioned that to the person, he said 'If you can't read it, too
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bad.' I did read his name, 'C. Thomas,' from another badge."
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Inhuman also told Newsbytes that he was told by a number of people that the
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guards said that they were "acting on behalf of the Secret Service." He added,
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"I was also told that there were two police officers from the Arlington County
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Police present but I did not see them."
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Another attendee, Doug Luce, reports, "I also got to the DC meeting very late;
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7:45 or so. It seemed like a coordinated harassment episode, not geared toward
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busting anyone, but designed to get people riled up, and maybe not come back to
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the mall."
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Luce adds that he overheard a conversation between someone who had brought a
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keyboard to sell. The person, he said, was harassed by security forces, one of
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whom said, "You aren't selling anything in my mall without a vendors permit!"
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Possible Secret Service involvement was supported by a 19 year-old college
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student known as the "Lithium Bandit," who told Newsbytes, "I got to the mall
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about 6:15 and saw the group being detained by approximately 5 Arlington County
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police and 5 security guards. When I walked over to see what was going on, a
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security guard asked me for an ID and I refused to show it, saying that I was
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about to leave. The guard said that I couldn't leave and told me that I had to
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see a police officer. When I did, the officer demanded ID and, when I once
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again refused, he informed me that I could be detained for up to 10 hours for
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refusing to produce identification. I gave in and produced my school ID which
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the police gave to the security people who copied down my name and social
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security number."
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Lithium Bandit continued, "When I asked the police what was behind this action,
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I was told that they couldn't answer but that 'the Secret Service is involved
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and we are within our rights doing this."
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The boy says he and others later went to the Arlington police station to get
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more information and were told only that there was a report of the use of a
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stolen credit card and two officers were sent to investigate. "They later
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admitted that it was 5 (officers). While I was detained, I heard no mention of
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a credit card and there was no one arrested."
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Marc Rotenberg, director of CPSR's Washington office, told Newsbytes, "I have
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really no details on the incident yet, but I am very concerned about the
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reports. Confiscation of CPSR applications, if true, is outrageous. I will
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find out more facts on Monday."
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Newsbytes was told by the Pentagon City Mall office that any information
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concerning the action would have to come from the director of security, Al
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Johnson, who was not available until Monday. The Arlington Country Police
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referred Newsbytes to a "press briefing recording" which had not been updated
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since the morning before the incident.
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Corley told Newsbytes, "There have been no reports of misbehavior by any of
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these people. They were obviously singled out because they were hackers. It's
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as if they were being singled out as an ethnic group. I admire the way the
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group responded -- in a courteous fashion. But it is inexcusable that it
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happened. I will be at the next Washington meeting to insure that it doesn't
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happen again."
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The manager of one of New York state's largest malls provided background
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information to Newsbytes on the rights of malls to police those on mall
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property, saying, "The primary purpose of a mall is to sell. The interior of
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the mall is private property and is subject to the regulations of the mall.
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The only requirement is that the regulations be enforced in an even-handed
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manner. I do not allow political activities in my mall so I could not make an
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exception for Democrats. We do allow community groups to meet but they must
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request space at least two weeks before the meeting and must have proper
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insurance. Our regulations also say that groups of more than 4 may not
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congregate in the mall."
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The spokeswoman added that mall security can ask for identification from those
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who violate regulations and that they may be barred from the mall for a period
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of 6 months.
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She added, "Some people feel that mall atriums and food courts are public
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space. They are not and the industry is united on this. If the malls were to
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receive tax benefits for the common space and public service in snow removal
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and the like, it could possibly be a public area but malls are taxed on the
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entire space and are totally private property, subject to their own
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regulations. If a group of 20 or more congregated in my mall, they would be
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asked to leave."
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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Confusion About Secret Service Role In 2600 Washington Raid November 7, 1992
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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by Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen (Newsbytes)
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WASHINGTON, D.C.-- In the aftermath of an action on Friday, November 6th by
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members of the Pentagon City Mall Police and police from Arlington County,
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Virginia in which those attending a 2600 meeting at the mall were ordered from
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the premises, conflicting stories continue to appear.
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Attendees at the meeting have contended to Newsbytes that members of the mall
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police told them that they were "acting on behalf of the Secret Service." They
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also maintain that the mall police confiscated material from knapsacks and took
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film from someone attempting to photograph the action and a list of the names
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of security officers that one attendee was attempting to compile.
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Al Johnson, chief of security for the mall, denied these allegations to
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Newsbytes, saying "No one said that we were acting on behalf of the Secret
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Service. We were merely enforcing our regulations. While the group was not
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disruptive, it had pulled tables together and was having a meeting in our food
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court area. The food court is for people eating and is not for meetings. We
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therefore asked the people to leave."
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Johnson denied that security personnel took away any film or lists and further
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said "We did not confiscate any material. The group refused to own up to who
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owned material on the tables and in the vicinity so we collected it as lost
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material. If it turns out that anything did belong to any of those people,
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they are welcome to come in and, after making proper identification, take the
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material."
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In a conversation early on November 9th, Robert Rasor, Secret Service agent-in-
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charge of computer crime investigations, told Newsbytes that having mall
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security forces represent the Secret Service is not something that was done
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and, that to his knowledge, the Secret Service had no involvement with any
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Pentagon City mall actions on the previous Friday.
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A Newsbytes call to the Arlington County police was returned by a Detective
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Nuneville who said that her instructions were to refer all questions concerning
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the matter to agent David Adams of the Secret Service. She told Newsbytes that
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Adams would be providing all information concerning the involvement of both the
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Arlington Police and the Secret Service in the incident.
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Adams told Newsbytes "The mall police were not acting as agents for the Secret
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Service. Beyond that, I can not confirm or deny that there is an ongoing
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investigation."
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Adams also told Newsbytes that "While I cannot speak for the Arlington police,
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I understand that their involvement was due to an incident unrelated to the
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investigation."
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Marc Rotenberg, director of the Washington office of Computer Professionals for
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Social Responsibility (CPSR), told Newsbytes "CPSR has reason to believe that
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the detention of people at the Pentagon City Mall last Friday was undertaken at
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the behest of the Secret Service, which is a federal agency. If that is the
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case, then there was an illegal search of people at the mall. There was no
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warrant and no indication of probable illegal activity. This raises
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constitutional issues. We have undertaken the filing of a Freedom of
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Information Act (FOIA) request to determine the scope, involvement and purpose
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of the Secret Service in this action."
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2600 meetings are held on the evening of the first Friday of each month in
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public places and malls in New York City, Washington, Philadelphia, Cambridge,
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St. Louis, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. They are promoted by 2600
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Magazine: The Hacker Quarterly and are attended by a variety of persons
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interested in telecommunications and so-called "hacker issues". The New York
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meeting, the oldest of its kind, is regularly attended by Eric Corley a/k/a
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Emmanuel Goldstein, editor and publisher of 2600, hackers, journalists,
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corporate communications professionals and other interested parties. It is
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known to have been the subject of surveillance at various times by law
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enforcement agencies conducting investigations into allegations of computer
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crime.
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Corley told Newsbytes "While I'm sure that meetings have been observed by law
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enforcement agencies, this is the only time that we have been harassed. It's
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definitely a freedom of speech issue." Corley also that he plans to be at the
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December meeting in Washington "to insure that it doesn't happen again."
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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Conflicting Stories In 2600 Raid; CRSR Files FOIA November 11, 1992
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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by Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen (Newsbytes)
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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In the on-going investigation of possible Secret Service
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involvement in the Friday, November 6th ejection of attendees at a "2600
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meeting" from the premises of the Pentagon City Mall, diametrically opposed
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statements have come from the same source.
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Al Johnson, chief of security for the Pentagon City Mall told Newsbytes on
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Monday, November 9th "No one said that we were acting on behalf of the Secret
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Service. We were merely enforcing our regulations. While the group was not
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disruptive, it had pulled tables together and was having a meeting in our food
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court area. The food court is for people eating and is not for meetings. We
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therefore asked the people to leave."
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On the same day, Johnson was quoted was quoted in a Communications Daily
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article by Brock Meeks as saying "As far as I'm concerned, we're out of this.
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The Secret Service, the FBI, they're the ones that ramrodded this whole thing."
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Newsbytes contacted Meeks to discuss the discrepancies in the stories and were
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informed that the conversation with Johnson had been taped and was available
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for review. The Newsbytes reporter listened to the tape (and reviewed a
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transcript). On the tape, Johnson was clearly heard to make the statement
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quoted by Meeks.
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He also said "maybe you outta call the Secret Service, they're handling this
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whole thing. We, we were just here", and, in response to a Meeks question
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about a Secret Service contact, "Ah.. you know, I don't have a contact person.
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These people were working on their own, undercover, we never got any names, but
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they definitely, we saw identification, they were here."
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Newsbytes contacted Johnson again on the morning of Wednesday, November 11 and
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asked him once again whether there was any Secret Service involvement in the
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action. Johnson said "No, I told you that they were not involved." When it was
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mentioned that there was a story in Communications Daily, quoting him to the
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contrary, Johnson said "I never told Meeks that. There was no Secret Service
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involvement"
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Informed of the possible existence of a tape quoting him to the contrary.
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Johnson said "Meeks taped me? He can't do that. I'll show him that I'm not
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fooling around. I'll have him arrested."
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Johnson also said "He asked me if the Secret Service was involved; I just told
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him that, if he thought they were, he should call them and ask them."
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Then Johnson again told Newsbytes that the incident was "just a mall problem.
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There were too many people congregating."
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[NOTE: Newsbytes stands by its accurate reporting of Johnson's statements. It
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also affirms that the story by Meeks accurately reflects the material taped
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during his interview]
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In a related matter, Marc Rotenberg, director of the Washington office of
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Computer Professionals For Social Responsibility (CPSR) has announced that CPSR
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has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Secret Service
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asking for information concerning Secret Service involvement in the incident.
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Rotenberg told Newsbytes that the Secret Service has 10 days to respond to the
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request. He also said that CPSR "is exploring other legal options in this
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matter."
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The Secret Service, in earlier conversations with Newsbytes, has denied that
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the mall security was working on its behalf.
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In the incident itself, a group attending the informal meeting was disbanded
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and, according to attendees, had property confiscated. They also contend that
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security guards took film from someone photographing the confiscation as well
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as a list that someone was making of the guard's names. In his November 9th
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conversation with Newsbytes, Johnson denied that security personnel took away
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any film or lists and further said "We did not confiscate any material. The
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group refused to own up to who owned material on the tables and in the vicinity
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so we collected it as lost material. If it turns out that anything did belong
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to any of those people, they are welcome to come in and, after making proper
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identification, take the material."
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2600 meetings are promoted by 2600 Magazine: The Hacker Quarterly and are held
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on the evening of the first Friday of each month in public places and malls in
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New York City, Washington, Philadelphia, Cambridge, St. Louis, Chicago, Los
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Angeles and San Francisco. They are regularly attended by a variety of persons
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interested in telecommunications and so-called "hacker issues".
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_______________________________________________________________________________
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Secret Service Grabs Computers In College Raid December 17, 1992
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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by Joe Abernathy (The Houston Chronicle)(Page A37)
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The Secret Service has raided a dorm room at Texas Tech University, seizing the
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computers of two Houston-area students who allegedly used an international
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computer network to steal computer software.
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Agents refused to release the names of the two area men and a third man, a
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former Tech student from Austin, who were not arrested in the late-morning raid
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Monday at the university in Lubbock. Their cases will be presented to a grand
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jury in January.
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The three, in their early 20s, are expected to be charged with computer crime,
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interstate transport of stolen property and copyright infringements.
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"The university detected it," said Agent R. David Freriks of the Secret Service
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office in Dallas, which handled the case. He said Texas Tech computer system
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operators noticed personal credit information mixed in with the software
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mysteriously filling up their data storage devices.
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The former student admitted pirating at least $6,000 worth of games and
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programs this summer, Freriks said.
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The raid is the first to fall under a much broader felony definition of
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computer software piracy that could affect many Americans.
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Agents allege the three used the Internet computer network, which connects up
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to 15 million people in more than 40 nations, to make contacts with whom they
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could trade pirated software. The software was transferred over the network,
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into Texas Tech's computers and eventually into their personal computers.
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The Software Publishers Association, a software industry group chartered to
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fight piracy, contends the industry lost $1.2 billion in sales in 1991 to
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pirates.
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Although these figures are widely questioned for their accuracy, piracy is
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widespread among Houston's 450-plus computer bulletin boards, and even more so
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on the global Internet.
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"There are a lot of underground sites on the Internet run by university system
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administrators, and they have tons of pirated software available to download --
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gigabytes of software," said Scott Chasin, a former computer hacker who is now
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a computer security consultant.
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Freriks said the investigation falls under a revision of the copyright laws
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that allows felony charges to be brought against anyone who trades more than 10
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pieces of copyrighted software -- a threshold that would cover many millions of
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Americans who may trade copies of computer programs with their friends.
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"The ink is barely dry on the amendment, and you've already got law enforcement
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in there, guns blazing, because somebody's got a dozen copies of stolen
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software," said Marc Rotenberg, director of Computer Professionals for Social
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Responsibility, in Washington.
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"That was a bad provision when it was passed, and was considered bad for
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precisely this reason, giving a justification for over-reaching by law
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enforcement."
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Freriks said the raid also involved one of the first uses of an expanded right
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to confiscate computers used in crime.
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"Our biggest complaint has been that you catch 'em and slap 'em on the wrist,
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and then give the smoking gun back," he said.
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"So they've changed the law so that we now have forfeiture authority."
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The Secret Service already has been under fire for what is seen by civil
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libertarians as an overly casual use of such authority, which many believe has
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mutated from an investigative tool into a de facto punishment without adequate
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court supervision.
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_______________________________________________________________________________
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Hacker Taps Into Freeway Call Box -- 11,733 Times October 23, 1992
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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by Jeffrey A. Perlman (Los Angeles Times)(Page A3)
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SANTA ANA, CA -- An enterprising hacker reached out and touched someone 11,733
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times in August -- from a freeway emergency call box in Orange County.
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A computer that monitors the county's emergency call boxes attributed 25,875
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minutes of calls to the mysterious caller who telephoned people in countries
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across the globe, according to a staff report prepared for the Orange County
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Transportation Authority.
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"This is well over the average of roughly 10 calls per call box," the report
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noted.
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About 1,150 bright yellow call boxes have been placed along Orange County's
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freeways to connect stranded motorists to the California Highway Patrol. But
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the caller charged all his calls to a single box on the shoulder of the Orange
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(57) Freeway.
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The hacker apparently matched the individual electronic serial number for the
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call box to its telephone number. It took an investigation by the transit
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authority, and three cellular communications firms to unravel the mystery, the
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report stated.
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Officials with the transit authority's emergency call box program were not
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available to comment on the cost of the phone calls or to say how they would be
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paid.
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But the report assured that "action has been taken to correct this problem. It
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should be noted that this is the first incident of this type in the five-year
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history of the program."
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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Ring May Be Responsible For Freeway Call Box Scam October 24, 1992
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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by Jodi Wilgoren (Los Angeles Times)(Page B4)
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"Officials Believe A Hacker Sold Information to Others;
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LA Cellular Will Pay For The Excess Calls."
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COSTA MESA, CA -- As soon as he saw the August bill for Orange County's freeway
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call boxes, analyst Dana McClure guessed something was awry.
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There are typically about 12,000 calls a month from the 1,150 yellow boxes that
|
|
dot the county's freeways. But in August, there were nearly that many
|
|
registered to a single box on the Orange Freeway a half-mile north of Lambert
|
|
Road in Brea.
|
|
|
|
"This one stood out, like 'Whoa!'" said McClure, who analyzes the monthly
|
|
computer billing tapes for the Orange County Transportation Authority. "It
|
|
kicked out as an error because the number of minutes was so far over what it is
|
|
supposed to be."
|
|
|
|
With help from experts at LA Cellular, which provides the telephone service for
|
|
the boxes, and GTE Cellular, which maintains the phones, McClure and OCTA
|
|
officials determined that the calls -- 11,733 of them totaling 25,875 minutes
|
|
for a charge of about $1,600 -- were made because the hacker learned the code
|
|
and telephone number for the call boxes.
|
|
|
|
Because of the number of calls in just one month's time, officials believe
|
|
there are many culprits, perhaps a ring of people who bought the numbers from
|
|
the person who cracked the system.
|
|
|
|
You'd have to talk day and night for 17 or 18 days to do that; it'd be
|
|
fantastic to be able to make that many calls," said Lee Johnson of GTE
|
|
Cellular.
|
|
|
|
As with all cases in which customers prove they did not make the calls on their
|
|
bills, LA Cellular will pick up the tab, company spokeswoman Gail Pomerantz
|
|
said. Despite the amount of time involved, the bill was only $1,600, according
|
|
to OCTA spokeswoman Elaine Beno, because the county gets a special emergency
|
|
service rate for the call box lines.
|
|
|
|
The OCTA will not spend time and money investigating who made the calls;
|
|
however, it has adjusted the system to prevent further fraud. Jim Goode of LA
|
|
Cellular said such abuses are rare among cellular subscribers, and that such
|
|
have never before been tracked to freeway call boxes.
|
|
|
|
The call boxes contain solar cellular phones programmed to dial directly to the
|
|
California Highway Patrol or a to a GTE Cellular maintenance line. The calls
|
|
on the August bill included 800 numbers and 411 information calls and hundreds
|
|
of calls to financial firms in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. That calls
|
|
were placed to these outside lines indicates that the intruders made the
|
|
connections from another cellular phone rather than from the call box itself.
|
|
Each cellular phone is assigned a seven-digit Mobile Identification Number that
|
|
functions like a phone number, and a 10- or 11-digit Electronic Service Number
|
|
unique to that particular phone (similar to the vehicle identification number
|
|
assigned every automobile). By reprogramming another cellular phone with the
|
|
MIN and ESN of the call box phone, a hacker could charge all sorts of calls to
|
|
the OCTA.
|
|
|
|
"That's not legally allowable, and it's not an easy thing to do," McClure said,
|
|
explaining that the numbers are kept secret and that reprogramming a cellular
|
|
phone could wreck it. "Most people don't know how to do that, but there are
|
|
some."
|
|
|
|
Everyone involved with the call box system is confident that the problem has
|
|
been solved, but officials are mum as to how they blocked potential cellular
|
|
banditry.
|
|
|
|
"I don't think we can tell you what we did to fix it because we don't want it
|
|
to happen again," Beno said with a laugh.
|
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
FBI Probes Possible Boeing Computer Hacker November 6, 1992
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
Taken from Reuters
|
|
|
|
SEATTLE -- Federal authorities said Friday they were investigating the
|
|
possibility that a hacker had breached security and invaded a Unix-based
|
|
computer system at the aerospace giant Boeing Co.
|
|
|
|
The Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed the probe after a Seattle radio
|
|
station reported it received a facsimile of a Boeing memorandum warning
|
|
employees the security of one of its computer networks may have been violated.
|
|
|
|
The memo, which had been sent from inside Boeing, said passwords may have been
|
|
compromised, a reporter for the KIRO station told Reuters.
|
|
|
|
KIRO declined to release a copy of the memorandum or to further identify its
|
|
source.
|
|
|
|
The memorandum said the problem involved computers using Unix, the open-ended
|
|
operating system used often in engineering work.
|
|
|
|
Sherry Nebel, a spokeswoman at Boeing's corporate headquarters, declined
|
|
comment on the memorandum or the alleged breach of security and referred all
|
|
calls to the FBI.
|
|
|
|
An FBI spokesman said the agency was in touch with the company and would
|
|
discuss with it possible breaches of federal law.
|
|
|
|
No information was immediately available on what type of computer systems may
|
|
have been violated at Boeing, the world's largest commercial aircraft
|
|
manufacturer.
|
|
|
|
The company, in addition, acts as a defense contractor and its business
|
|
includes work on the B-2 stealth bomber, NASA's space station and the "Star
|
|
Wars" project.
|
|
|
|
Boeing is a major user of computer technology and runs a computer services
|
|
group valued at $1 billion.
|
|
|
|
Much of the company's engineering work is conducted using computer -aided
|
|
design (CAD) capabilities. Boeing currently is pioneering a computerized
|
|
technique which uses 2,000 computer terminals to design its new 777 twinjet.
|
|
|
|
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
|
|
|
|
FBI Expands Boeing Computer Hacker Probe November 9, 1992
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
by Samuel Perry (Reuters)
|
|
|
|
SEATTLE -- Federal authorities expanded their investigation of a computer
|
|
hacker or hackers suspected of having invaded a computer system at aerospace
|
|
giant and defense contractor Boeing Co.
|
|
|
|
FBI spokesman Dave Hill said the investigation was expanded after the agency
|
|
discovered similar infiltrations of computer records belonging to the U.S.
|
|
District Court in Seattle and another government agency.
|
|
|
|
"We're trying to determine if the same individuals are involved here," he said,
|
|
adding more than one suspect may be involved and the purpose of the intrusion
|
|
was unclear.
|
|
|
|
"We don't think this was an espionage case," Hill said, adding federal agents
|
|
were looking into violations of U.S. law barring breaking into a computer of
|
|
federal interest, but that no government classified data was believed to be
|
|
compromised.
|
|
|
|
"I'm not sure what their motivation is," he told Reuters.
|
|
|
|
The FBI confirmed the investigation after a Seattle radio station reported it
|
|
received a facsimile of a Boeing memorandum warning employees that the security
|
|
of one of its computer networks may have been violated.
|
|
|
|
A news reporter at KIRO Radio, which declined to release the facsimile, said
|
|
it was sent by someone within Boeing and that it said many passwords may have
|
|
been compromised.
|
|
|
|
Boeing's corporate headquarters has declined to comment on the matter,
|
|
referring all calls to the FBI.
|
|
|
|
The huge aerospace company, which is the world's largest maker of commercial
|
|
jetliners, relies heavily on computer processing to design and manufacture its
|
|
products. Its data processing arm operates $1.6 billion of computer equipment.
|
|
|
|
No information was disclosed on what system at Boeing had been compromised.
|
|
But one computer industry official said it could include "applications
|
|
involving some competitive situations in the aerospace industry.
|
|
|
|
The company is a defense contractor or subcontractor on major U.S. military
|
|
programs, such as the B-2 stealth bomber, the advanced tactical fighter,
|
|
helicopters, the NASA space station and the "Star Wars" missile defense system.
|
|
|
|
Recently, Boeing has pioneered the unprecedented use of computer-aided design
|
|
capabilities in engineering its new 777 twinjet. The design of the 777 is now
|
|
mostly complete as Boeing prepares for final assembly beginning next year.
|
|
|
|
That system, which uses three-dimensional graphics to replace a draftsman's
|
|
pencil and paper, includes 2,000 terminals that can tap into data from around
|
|
the world.
|
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
Hacker Breaches NOAA Net August 3, 1992
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
by Kevin Power (Government Computer News)(Page 10)
|
|
|
|
As a recent breach of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's
|
|
(NOAA) link to the Internet shows, the network not only benefits scientists but
|
|
also attracts unwanted attention from hackers.
|
|
|
|
NOAA officials said an intruder in May accessed the agency's TCP/IP network,
|
|
seeking to obtain access to the Internet. The breach occurred on the National
|
|
Weather Service headquarters' dial-in communications server in Silver Spring,
|
|
Maryland, said Harold Whitt, a senior telecommunications engineer with NOAA.
|
|
|
|
Cygnus Support, a Palo Alto, California, software company, alerted NOAA
|
|
officials to the local area network security breach when Cygnus found that an
|
|
outsider had accessed one of its servers from the NOAA modem pool and had
|
|
attempted several long-distance phone calls.
|
|
|
|
NOAA and Cygnus officials concluded that the perpetrator was searching for an
|
|
Internet host, possibly to locate a games publisher, Whitt said. Fortunately,
|
|
the hacker did no damage to NOAA's data files, he said.
|
|
|
|
Whitt said intruders using a modem pool to tap into external networks are
|
|
always a security concern. But organizations with Internet access seem to be
|
|
hacker favorites, he said. "There's a lot of need for Internet security,"
|
|
Whitt said.
|
|
|
|
"You have to make sure you monitor the usage of the TCP/IP network and the
|
|
administration of the local host. It's a common problem, but in our case we're
|
|
more vulnerable because of tremendous Internet access," Whitt said.
|
|
|
|
Whitt said NOAA's first response was to terminate all dial-in services
|
|
temporarily and change all the numbers.
|
|
|
|
Whitt said he also considered installing a caller-identification device for the
|
|
new lines. But the phone companies have limited capabilities to investigate
|
|
random incidents, he said.
|
|
|
|
"It's very difficult to isolate problems at the protocol level," Whitt said.
|
|
"We targeted the calls geographically to the Midwest.
|
|
|
|
"But once you get into the Internet and have an understanding of TCP/IP, you
|
|
can just about go anywhere," Whitt said.
|
|
|
|
NOAA, a Commerce Department agency, has since instituted stronger password
|
|
controls and installed a commercial dial-back security system, Defender from
|
|
Digital Pathways Inc. of Mountain View, California.
|
|
|
|
Whitt said the new system requires users to undergo password validation at dial
|
|
time and calls back users to synchronize modems and log calls. Despite these
|
|
corrective measures, Reed Phillips, Commerce's IRM director, said the NOAA
|
|
incident underlies the axiom that networks always should be considered
|
|
insecure.
|
|
|
|
At the recent annual conference of the Federation of Government Information
|
|
Processing Councils in New Orleans, Phillips said the government is struggling
|
|
to transmit more information electronically and still maintain control over the
|
|
data.
|
|
|
|
Phillips said agencies are plagued by user complacency, a lack of
|
|
organizational control, viruses, LAN failures and increasing demands for
|
|
electronic commerce. "I'm amazed that there are managers who believe their
|
|
electronic-mail systems are secure," Phillps said. "We provide a great deal of
|
|
security, but it can be interrupted.
|
|
|
|
"Security always gets hits hard in the budget. But the good news is vendors
|
|
recognize our needs and are coming out with cheaper security tools," Phillips
|
|
said.
|
|
|
|
Phillips said the NOAA attack shows that agencies must safeguard a network's
|
|
physical points because LANs present more security problems than centralized
|
|
systems.
|
|
|
|
"The perpetrator can dial in via a modem using the common services provided by
|
|
the telephone company, and the perpetrator risks no personal physical harm. By
|
|
gaining access to a single system on the network the perpetrator is then able
|
|
to propagate his access rights to multiple systems on the network," Phillips
|
|
said.
|
|
|
|
"In many LAN environments a user need only log on the network once and all
|
|
subsequent access is assumed to be authorized for the entire LAN. It then
|
|
becomes virtually impossible for a network manager or security manager to track
|
|
events of a perpetrator," he said.
|
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
Hackers Scan Airwaves For Conversations August 17, 1992
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
by Mark Lewyn (The Washington Post)(Page A1)
|
|
|
|
"Eavesdroppers Tap Into Private Calls."
|
|
|
|
On the first day of the Soviet coup against Mikhail Gorbachev in August 1991,
|
|
Vice President Quayle placed a call to Senator John C. Danforth (R-Mo.) and
|
|
assessed the tense, unfolding drama.
|
|
|
|
It turned out not to be a private conversation.
|
|
|
|
At the time, Quayle was aboard a government jet, flying to Washington from
|
|
California. As he passed over Amarillo, Texas his conversation, transmitted
|
|
from the plane to Danforth's phone, was picked up by an eavesdropper using
|
|
electronic "scanning" gear that searches the airwaves for radio or wireless
|
|
telephone transmissions and then locks onto them.
|
|
|
|
The conversation contained no state secrets -- the vice president observed that
|
|
Gorbachev was all but irrelevant and Boris Yeltsin had become the man to watch.
|
|
But it remains a prized catch among the many conversations overhead over many
|
|
years by one of a steadily growing fraternity of amateur electronics
|
|
eavesdroppers who listen in on all sorts of over-the-air transmissions, ranging
|
|
from Air Force One communications to cordless car-phone talk.
|
|
|
|
One such snoop overheard a March 1990 call placed by Peter Lynch, a well-known
|
|
mutual fund executive in Boston, discussing his forthcoming resignation, an
|
|
event that later startled financial circles. Another electronic listener
|
|
overheard the chairman of Popeye's Fried Chicken disclose plans for a 1988
|
|
takeover bid for rival Church's Fried Chicken.
|
|
|
|
Calls by President Bush and a number of Cabinet officers have been intercepted.
|
|
The recordings of car-phone calls made by Virginia Governor L. Douglas Wilder
|
|
(D), intercepted by a Virginia Beach restaurant owner and shared with Senator
|
|
Charles S. Robb (D-Va.), became a cause ce'le'bre in Virginia politics.
|
|
|
|
Any uncoded call that travels via airwaves, rather than wire, can be picked up,
|
|
thus the possibilities have multiplied steadily with the growth of cellular
|
|
phones in cars and cordless phones in homes and offices. About 41 percent of
|
|
U.S. households have cordless phones and the number is expected to grow by
|
|
nearly 16 million this year, according to the Washington-based Electronics
|
|
Industry Association.
|
|
|
|
There are 7.5 million cellular phone subscribers, a technology that passes
|
|
phone calls over the air through a city from one transmission "cell" to the
|
|
next. About 1,500 commercial airliners now have air-to-ground phones -- roughly
|
|
half the U.S. fleet.
|
|
|
|
So fast-growing is this new form of electronic hacking that it has its own
|
|
magazines, such as Monitoring Times. "The bulk of the people doing this aren't
|
|
doing it maliciously," said the magazine's editor, Robert Grove, who said he
|
|
has been questioned several times by federal agents, curious about hackers'
|
|
monitoring activities.
|
|
|
|
But some experts fear the potential for mischief. The threat to business from
|
|
electronic eavesdropping is "substantial," said Thomas S. Birney III, president
|
|
of Cellular Security Group, a Massachusetts-based consulting group.
|
|
|
|
Air Force One and other military and government aircraft have secure satellite
|
|
phone links for sensitive conversations with the ground, but because these are
|
|
expensive to use and sometimes not operating, some calls travel over open
|
|
frequencies. Specific frequencies, such as those used by the president's
|
|
plane, are publicly available and are often listed in "scanners" publications
|
|
and computer bulletin boards.
|
|
|
|
Bush, for example, was accidentally overheard by a newspaper reporter in 1990
|
|
while talking about the buildup prior to the Persian Gulf War with Senator
|
|
Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.). The reporter, from the Daily Times in Gloucester,
|
|
Massachusetts quickly began taking notes and the next day, quoted Bush in his
|
|
story under the headline, "Bush Graces City Airspace."
|
|
|
|
The vice president's chief of staff, William Kristol, was overheard castigating
|
|
one staff aide as a "jerk" for trying to reach him at home.
|
|
|
|
Some eavesdroppers may be stepping over the legal line, particularly if they
|
|
tape record such conversations.
|
|
|
|
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act prohibits intentional monitoring,
|
|
taping or distribution of the content of most electronic, wire or private oral
|
|
communications. Cellular phone calls are explicitly protected under this act.
|
|
Local laws often also prohibit such activity. However, some lawyers said that
|
|
under federal law, it is legal to intercept cordless telephone conversations as
|
|
well as conversations on an open radio channel.
|
|
|
|
The government rarely prosecutes such cases because such eavesdroppers are
|
|
difficult to catch. Not only that, it is hard to win convictions against
|
|
"listening Toms," lawyers said, because prosecutors must prove the
|
|
eavesdropping was intentional.
|
|
|
|
"Unless they prove intent they are not going to win," said Frank Terranella,
|
|
general counsel for the Association of North American Radio Clubs in Clifton,
|
|
New Jersey. "It's a very tough prosecution for them."
|
|
|
|
To help curb eavesdropping, the House has passed a measure sponsored by Rep.
|
|
Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House telecommunications and
|
|
finance subcommittee, that would require the Federal Communications Commission
|
|
to outlaw any scanner that could receive cellular frequencies. The bill has
|
|
been sent to the Senate.
|
|
|
|
But there are about 10 million scanners in use, industry experts report, and
|
|
this year sales of scanners and related equipment such as antennas will top
|
|
$100 million.
|
|
|
|
Dedicated scanners, who collect the phone calls of high-ranking government
|
|
officials the way kids collect baseball cards, assemble basements full of
|
|
electronic gear.
|
|
|
|
In one sense, the electronic eavesdroppers are advanced versions of the
|
|
ambulance chasers who monitor police and fire calls with simpler scanning
|
|
equipment and then race to the scene of blazes and accidents for a close look.
|
|
But they also have kinship with the computer hackers who toil at breaking into
|
|
complex computer systems and rummaging around other's files and software
|
|
programs.
|
|
|
|
One New England eavesdropper has four scanners, each one connected to its own
|
|
computer, with a variety of frequencies programmed. When a conversation
|
|
appears on a pre-selected frequency, a computer automatically locks in on the
|
|
frequency to capture it. He also keeps a scanner in his car, for entertainment
|
|
along the road.
|
|
|
|
He justifies his avocation with a seemingly tortured logic. "I'm not going out
|
|
and stealing these signals," he said. "They're coming into my home, right
|
|
through my windows."
|
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
Why Cybercrooks Love Cellular December 21, 1989
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
by William G. Flanagan and Brigid McMenamin (Forbes)(Page 189)
|
|
|
|
Cellular phones provide cybercrooks with golden opportunities for telephone
|
|
toll fraud, as many shocked cellular customers are discovering. For example,
|
|
one US West Cellular customer in Albuquerque recently received a hefty
|
|
telephone bill.
|
|
|
|
Total: $20,000.
|
|
|
|
Customers are not held responsible when their phone numbers are ripped off and
|
|
misused. But you may be forced to have your cellular phone number changed.
|
|
The cellular carriers are the big losers -- to the tune of an estimated $300
|
|
million per year in unauthorized calls.
|
|
|
|
How do the crooks get the numbers? There are two common methods: cloning and
|
|
tumbling.
|
|
|
|
Each cellular phone has two numbers -- a mobile identification number (MIN) and
|
|
an electronic serial number (ESN). Every time you make a call, the chip
|
|
transmits both numbers to the local switching office for verification and
|
|
billing.
|
|
|
|
Cloning involves altering the microchip in another cellular phone so that both
|
|
the MIN and ESN numbers match those stolen from a bona fide customer. The
|
|
altering can be done with a personal computer. The MIN and ESN numbers are
|
|
either purchased from insiders or plucked from the airwaves with a legal
|
|
device, about the size of a textbook, that can be plugged into a vehicle's
|
|
cigarette lighter receptacle.
|
|
|
|
Cellular companies are starting to watch for suspicious calling patterns. But
|
|
the cloning may not be detected until the customer gets his bill.
|
|
|
|
The second method -- tumbling -- also involves using a personal computer to
|
|
alter a microchip in a cellular phone so that its numbers change after every
|
|
phone call. Tumbling doesn't require any signal plucking. It takes advantage
|
|
of the fact that cellular companies allow "roaming" -- letting you make calls
|
|
away from your home area.
|
|
|
|
When you use a cellular phone far from your home base, it may take too long for
|
|
the local switching office to verify your MIN and ESN numbers. So the first
|
|
call usually goes through while the verification goes on. If the numbers are
|
|
invalid, no more calls will be permitted by that office on that phone.
|
|
|
|
In 1987 a California hacker figured out how to use his personal computer to
|
|
reprogram the chip in a cellular phone. Authorities say one of his pals
|
|
started selling altered chips and chipped-up phones. Other hackers figured out
|
|
how to make the chips generate new, fake ESN numbers every time the cellular
|
|
phone was used, thereby short-circuiting the verification process. By 1991
|
|
chipped-up, tumbling ESN phones were in use all over the U.S.
|
|
|
|
The cellular carriers hope to scotch the problem of tumbling with instant
|
|
verification. But that won't stop the clones.
|
|
|
|
How do crooks cash in? Drug dealers buy (for up to $ 3,200) or lease (about
|
|
$750 per day) cellular phones with altered chips. So do the "call-sell"
|
|
crooks, who retail long distance calls to immigrants often for less than phone
|
|
companies charge. That's why a victim will get bills for calls all over the
|
|
world, but especially to Colombia, Bolivia and other drug-exporting countries.
|